MOSCOW, October 29. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has uncovered new cases of Ukrainian intelligence services using the popular Dayvinchik/Leo match bot to recruit teenagers to carry out terrorist attacks, the press office reported.
"The Federal Security Service, together with the Interior Ministry and the Investigative Committee, continues to document instances of Ukrainian special services using the popular Dayvinchik/Leo match bot on Telegram to recruit Russian citizens into sabotage and terrorist activities through deception and psychological manipulation," the statement said.
"In August and September 2026 alone, eight minors (aged 14 to 17) and two adult Russian citizens (aged 19 and 24) were detained in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Leningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, Ryazan, and Sverdlovsk Regions for either plotting or carrying out arson attacks on law enforcement vehicles, gas stations, and energy and transport infrastructure facilities on the orders of Ukrainian special services, as well as for acting as couriers to transfer funds obtained from defrauded citizens to cryptocurrency exchange points," the press office noted. Since July 2025, 56 Russians aged 12 to 24 have been detained in various regions of Russia. They used the Telegram Dayvinchik/Leo match bot and committed crimes under the psychological influence of Ukrainian intelligence agencies, the FSB emphasized.
According to the press office, "Ukrainian intelligence officers posed as young people to make online contact with Russian users via the Telegram match bot. During these conversations, which were intended to develop romantic relationships, the Russian users sent their geolocation data, paid for restaurant reservations in advance, and clicked on phishing links," the statement said. The users were then contacted by impostors posing as representatives of the FSB or Russia’s financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring, who threatened that the funds they had sent had allegedly been transferred to Ukrainian military accounts and that the geolocation data provided would be used to launch missile strikes or drone attacks.
"After that, the deceived and intimidated citizens, who were unable to critically assess the situation due to psychological pressure, were coerced, under the threat of criminal prosecution, into committing arson to test the anti-terrorism security of the targeted facilities and into participating in other pseudo-operational activities," the FSB noted.
As a result, the deceived teenagers and young adults became defendants in criminal cases involving terrorism, attempted terrorism, or intentional destruction or damage to property. Those who have reached the age of criminal responsibility have been charged. Given the severity of the crimes, they face lengthy prison terms, the press office added.